The effect of ractopamine hydrochloride on the carcass cutting yields of finishing swine.

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate growth performance, carcass cutting yield, and processing characteristics of boneless hams and bellies from finishing pigs fed diets containing 0, 5, 10, or 20 ppm of the phenethanolamine ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC). Sixty pigs were blocked by starting weight and randomly assigned to pens (four pigs/pen) within each of three blocks. Treatments were then randomly assigned to the pens to total six pens of the 0-ppm level and three pens each at the 5-, 10-, and 20-ppm RAC levels. Weight gain and feed consumption were monitored and animals were slaughtered by weight block after approximately 48 d on trial. Slaughter weight, ADG, and feed/gain were improved (P less than .05) for RAC treatments. Dressing percentage was higher and increased linearly (P less than .05) for RAC treatments. Carcass weight, length, leaf fat weight, backfat thickness, loin eye area, and color, marbling, and firmness of the longissimus were evaluated. The RAC-treated carcasses were heavier (P less than .05) and loin eye area increased linearly (P less than .05). One side of each carcass was fabricated using National Association of Meat Purveyors specifications. Trimmed hams and loins from the RAC treatments were heavier (P less than .05) than those from control animals. No differences (P greater than .05) in carcass cutting yield (percentage of trimmed primal cuts) were observed between treatments. However, trimmed hams and loins from the 20-ppm RAC treatment represented a greater (P less than .05) percentage of carcass weight than did those from control animals. Ractopamine did not affect raw belly or bacon characteristics (P less than .05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The effect of ractopamine supplementation at 5 ppm of swine finishing diets on growth performance, carcass composition and ultimate pork quality

“…These results are consistent with the findings of past studies (Stites et al 1991;Crome et al 1996;Carr et al, 2005b;Stahl et al, 2007) and suggest that feeding RAC at the 5 ppm level should not affect a consumer's subjective assessment of fresh loin quality.…”

“…For example, Armstrong et al (2004) did not see an improvement in carcass leanness when RAC was fed at 5 ppm, and only saw an improvement in loin eye area when the feeding period was at least 27 days. Stites et al (1991) also saw no improvement in backfat thickness but did see an increase in loin eye area when RAC was fed at 5 ppm; however, in their experiment, amino acid levels were not increased.…”

“…Some results indicate no effect of RAC on the visual assessment of marbling in the LM between the 10th and 11th ribs (Watkins et al 1990;Stites et al 1991;Crome et al 1996), or on the extractable lipid content of the LM (Stites et al 1994). Armstrong et al (2004) reported that the visual marbling score for the LM was decreased when RAC was fed for 34 d at 10 and 20 ppm compared with 0 ppm RAC.…”

Desempenho, características de carcaça e composição óssea de suínos alimentados com diferentes níveis de ractopamina e fitase

“…Esse efeito da melhora do ganho de peso ao final de 14 dias não foi observado na pesquisa de See et al (2004), que não apontou diferença entre 5 ppm e 11,7 ppm nas variáveis de desempenho. Por outro lado, o ganho médio diário ao final dos 21 dias confirmaram as tendências apontadas por Crome et al (1996) e Stites et al (1991) de aumento no ganho médio diário com a inclusão crescente de ractopamina na dieta.…”

Effect of ractopamine on carcass characteristics and joint-cartilage soundness in finishing pigs

“…It has been reported that ractopamine supplementation in pig diets increased body lean and decreased body fat (Crenshaw et al 1987; Nelson et al 1987;Anderson et al 1988;Watkins et al 1990;Stites et al 1991).…”